Hotel Classification

Hotel Classification - an international perspective

Up to 1996 Scandinavia and Germany were the only countries that did not have an official hotel classification scheme. In 1996, both Germany and Denmark brought in a national hotel classification scheme. In 2003 Sweden adopted the Danish hotel classification - with some minor modifications - as the preliminary step towards the establishment of a Scandinavian hotel classification scheme. As a result, with the introduction of these systems in the most important tourism market, the "missing gaps” in hotel classifications in Europe disappeared. Yet, despite this, there are still many voices demanding a European-wide harmonization or standardization of existing national classification systems as next step.

HOTREC – the European federation of hotels, restaurants and cafés - decided at its general assembly of October 9^th, 2004 in Bergen, Norway, to develop suggestions for the harmonization and consequent adjustment of existing national classification systems. All European hotel federations are convinced that only a "bottom-up" strategy has a chance of success and a "top-down-strategy" is doomed to failure because of the heterogeneity of the classification schemes in Europe.

Existing national hotel classification schemes, such as in Germany, must cope with considerable problems arising from the differences between regions and groups of guests. Following the experience with the standardization project DIN EN ISO 18513 on Tourism Terminology it is probable that a European classification scheme would not be useful or in the interest of guests. A world-wide standard, given its very scope, would not work and could even cause undesired confusion if it were used as an additional standard alongside existing national classification schemes.

What is more, the cost of the production of such a standard would be extremely high - and the cost of the classification process and the regular reviews even higher. Furthermore these costs would be passed on to consumers and/or travellers. And finally, there is no reasonable relationship between the expenditure and the return on investment.

Most accommodation markets are dominated by domestic guests, particularly in Germany, France and Italy as well as in Japan or the USA. Therefore it is desirable and economically correct that national classification systems focus on the specific preferences of domestic guests and other regional/local conditions.

Think of this. While Greek consumers demand air conditioning, in Austria consumers expect a four-course menu to be offered in 4 and 5 star hotels. On the other hand the British require a "cooked breakfast" – but the Portuguese do not. They want a good selection of tobacco and cigars right at the reception desk, while the French attach great importance to having a bidet in the bathroom. Dutch regulations require a large number of towels, but do not acknowledge the American wish for an ice machine on the floor, etc., etc. Southern Europeans usually place less value on the length of the bed than Northern Europeans. In densely populated Tokyo the rooms, in particular, the bathrooms of a 5-star-hotel, can be smaller than in a lower category country motel in the USA. Not even the size and condition of the bed, the size of the rooms or the facilities in a bathroom are defined, because travellers from different countries in the world have different personal requirements and conceptions. An international standard would create false expectations which could not be fulfilled.

A Greek 3-star beach-hotel can hardly be compared to a Swedish city-hotel of the same category where even rooms without windows are accepted. The differences are much greater between less developed countries, such as Uganda or Mali, and the USA or Canada. For the hotel market in Uganda it is unreasonable to be classified according to North American criteria et vice versa. And for both it is not reasonable to find a compromise in the middle.

In view of these differences one single 5-star-system cannot possibly capture the entire diversity of hotels world-wide. However to ignore the 1 to 5-star-scheme causes more confusion than clarity because this 5-star-system is internationally used. And this “common sense” approach to hotel classification cannot be changed, even if marketing claims - particularly in the Middle East - repeatedly refer to dream properties and ever escalating star classification scales.

The alternative – limiting a European or a world-wide classification system to just a share of hotels – automatically gives rise to one elementary question: Which share? 20%, 50% or 80% of the total offer? Which criteria would guide the choice of hotels? Those of the rich, industrialized countries or those of the developing world? And for which group of consumer/guests would this standard exist? For international business travellers or international holiday-makers or for individual family-travellers? And all this even though we know that hotel markets are dominated by domestic customers?

It is precisely for these very good reasons that there is no international hotel classification scheme in existence today.

(kindly forwarded by Markus Luthe, CEO, IHA-D, Germany)